Dreamcaster
by apolo.13
Summary: Set six moons after The Sight without the events of later Power of Three books , Cloudtail and Brightheart's daughter learns she has a special gift and disaster to avert. Can an ordinary apprentice handle the pressure? *Rated T for some violence*
1. Mallow and Voles

I couldn't imagine where this would have taken me…_me, _Cloudtail and Brightheart's youngest daughter, Lilypaw. I was just the epitome of the average ThunderClan apprentice—grey tabby fur, white paws, and Cloudtail's vivd blue eyes. I was Thornclaw's apprentice, and I was in training to be a warrior, just as much as the next cat.

But what happened was anything but average. It happened like this…

Sunlight dappled the snowy forest, and I squinched up my eyes to focus on the tiny brown vole nibbling on a seed. I could hardly smell my catch over the scent of the forest, and my paws were freezing from staying so still in the bitter cold. Still, the Clan needed prey.

I know it sounds selfish, but I was pretty much hunting for myself. I'm not planning on being the next Tigerstar or something—believe me, I've heard way too many elder's tales!—but tonight was the night of the gathering. I let my eyes wander involuntarily towards the semi-opaque full moon hiding behind the bare branches of the oak trees, and I felt a little shiver run down my spine. Thornclaw didn't take me to the last two Gatherings, so this was going to be my first, given that I was going to go.

I curled my tail, focusing on my prey. Sneaking up pawstep by pawstep, I lunged out to nip at the vole. The vole turned, dropped the seed, and fled into the long, overgrown grass. I bolted after it. _Great, _I thought. _I sure hope Thornclaw isn't watching me right now. That was practically under my nose!_

I gave up the chase after the vole bolted up a tiny tree, squeaking loudly. I sniffed at the air for more prey, but could only smell a surprisingly familiar ThunderClan scent…

"C'mon out, Lilypaw." The thick grass stems twitched, heralding Thornclaw's arrival. His amber eyes flickered with surprise. "The Clan needs food, and that vole was easy to catch."

Annoyance sparked in my belly. I'm not always that good at controlling my temper, an attribute of mine which everyone credits Cloudtail, my father. "It's not _my _fault that it's so cold, my paws practically froze over!" I snapped, staring challengingly into Thornclaw's amber eyes.

Thornclaw lashed his tail at me. "Honestly, Lilypaw. Go back to camp and see if you can make yourself useful." He sheathed his claws, already beginning to pad away into the forest.

I dipped my head, trying to look respectful. "Bossy furball," I muttered into the snow.

"I heard that," Thornclaw muttered darkly, looking pained. "You'd better hurry up if you want to get anything done before the Gathering."

My ears pricked. "Gathering? I'm going to the Gathering?" I asked him, suddenly feeling elated.

Thornclaw groaned. "I'll talk to Firestar about it. Now, hurry up and get back on to camp!"

I arrived back at camp just after sunhigh. I spotted my older sister, Whitewing, eating a mouse with Birchfall. She nodded at me, padding over. "Hey, Lilypaw. Back so soon?" Whitewing asked, her green eyes glittering cheerfully.

"Don't ask!" I hissed, fighting down the anger churning in my belly. "Thornclaw sent me back to be helpful around the camp before the Gathering. D'you know of anything that needs help?"

Whitewing looked thoughtfully at me for a moment. "Well, if you've got time," she said, "Jaypaw and Leafpool need help with their herbs. A lot of them were killed with the frosts and the cold air. Leafpool's out collecting herbs as we speak, so I'm sure Jaypaw could use your help."

_Jaypaw! _I almost hissed out loud. Jaypaw has got to be the most self-righteous jerk in the entire forest—except, maybe, for ShadowClan. "Fine," I grumbled.

My sister frowned at me. "You ought not to be so grumpy about it, Lilypaw," she advised. "Jaypaw's got real good hearing. I know that he can hear better than most cats, like across the cam"—

_More about the all-mighty Jaypaw, _I thought grumpily, heading towards the shallow cave in the cliffs where Leafpool keeps her den.

I blinked for a little while, adjusting to the bitter tang of herbs and the sudden plunge of darkness. Jaypaw was sifting through herbs, his grey pelt outlined faintly in watery golden sunlight. He turned to face me, his sky blue eyes slicing through the darkness. I shifted uneasily. _Just because he's blind makes it more creepy that he can see directly into my eyes, _I noted.

"What do you want _now_?" Jaypaw demanded, turning back to his herbs as soon as he realized that it was me.

"What'dya mean, now?" I snapped. "I only just came in here for the first time today, you stupid furball." Remembering what I was here for, I added, "Whitewing told me you need help in here sorting herbs?"

Jaypaw's hackles rose, and I assumed that he was totally taking this the wrong way. He always does. "I might be blind, but I'm not helpless!" he said sharply.

I rolled my eyes, glad that Jaypaw couldn't see me. "I didn't mean you, personally," I retorted. "Just that Thornclaw sent me back to camp to make myself useful before the Gathering."

Jaypaw relaxed a little. "Well, there's some mallow that needs sorting," he suggested, flicking his tail at an aromatic pile next to the heap of juniper berries he was sorting. "The stuff that's black and brittle is the stuff that needs to go out. Try not to throw out too much, because mallow's very scarce at this time of year."

"Sure," I mewed, picking through the herbs. I could tell that Jaypaw was trying to be friendly, so I added, "You going to the Gathering tonight?"

Jaypaw glanced at me and rolled his eyes. "I doubt it," he grumbled. "After all, some cat has to be here along with the helpless kits and useless elders." His tail lashed so fiercely I could feel it ruffling my pelt. He spat out a mouthful of berries. "I assume you're going?"

I shrugged, enjoying the taste of the sweet mallow in my jaws. "I dunno," I admitted excitedly. "Thornclaw said he'd talk to Firestar about it though. You've been to a Gathering before, haven't you?"

Jaypaw twitched his ears. "Yeah," he said. "Lots of grumpy cats. Good chance to meet the Clans, though. Plenty of weird apprentices to keep you amused, at the very least." He sniffed at the mallow I'd been sorting. "That seems pretty good," he added grudgingly. I could practically feel the resentment rolling from his pelt in waves.

"Thanks!" I purred, surprised to be complimented by Leafpool's bitter apprentice. "Anything else we should do?"

Jaypaw sniffed the air. "Nah," he mewed. "I think we're done. Want to grab a bite of fresh-kill before the Gathering starts?"

I felt a little surge of shock pulse through me at Jaypaw's sudden change of moods. "If you want to," I suggested, curling my tail up. I realized how hungry I was. Because of the shortage of prey in the woods during leaf-bare, I hadn't eaten before going out with Thornclaw this morning.

Jaypaw nestled in beside me, a thrush and a rabbit held in his jaws. He shoved the thrush towards me, tearing into his own meal hungrily. The setting sun cast his fur into stone-colored flames. "So," he mewed. A brief silence ensued, and I felt myself growing warm with the awkward tension that held between us.

"I can't wait for the Gathering," I admitted testily. "Are they fun?"

Around a mouthful of rabbit, Jaypaw replied: "Sort of. It's nice to see what the other Clan cats are like. Most of them sort of avoided me, though." He looked down resentfully. "It must be because I'm blind."

I opened my mouth to reply, before I heard the crunch of pawsteps in the snow. Thornclaw was standing over me. "Cats assembling for the gathering are meeting by the camp entrance," he reported. "You're coming, Lilypaw."

Excitement churned in my belly. "I am?" I asked, springing to my paws and landing clumsily, spraying snow into Thornclaw's eyes and muzzle. "You mean, like now?"

Thornclaw purred, and his amber eyes looked warmly into mine for the first time in what felt like ages. "Yes, right now," he replied. "Come on, now. The Clan's waiting for us."

I hurried across the clearing, towards where the other apprentices—Honeypaw, Icepaw, and Cinderpaw—were gathered, near the front of the group. As we began to make the journey to the island, Honeypaw flicked her ears in greeting at me, glancing up at the cloudless, starry sky. "Good weather tonight," she commented sedately.

Cinderpaw's blue eyes sparkled, and her coat fluffed out from the cold. "This your first Gathering, Lilypaw?" she asked. "It's mine, too. I can't wait to see the other Clans!" Her eyes glowed with enthusiasm.

Poppypaw turned to us, her tortoiseshell fur gleaming in the moonlight. I could tell she groomed herself extra well for the occasion. "Speaking of, wonder what's going on with the other Clans?" she pondered thoughtfully, dodging around a snow-covered log. "Leopardstar seemed kind of quiet last time…"

Honeypaw bounded over the log in one leap, splashing us with snow. "Dunno," she frowned. "Wonder what Heatherpaw's been up to? She's really friendly, Lilypaw." She turned, her green eyes glittering into my blue ones. "She's from WindClan. Come on, it's time to cross to the island!" She leaped onto a moonlit log that bridged our forest to the island where the Clans met for the Gatherings.

Cinderpaw pressed her tail against my flank. "Scared, Lilypaw?" she teased as I put my paws carefully in front of the other.

_Scared? More like excited! _I thought, though I was too nervous to reply. The black water of the lake rippled ominously beneath us. Meanwhile, Honeypaw had crossed to the other side of the log, waiting for us with an impatiently twitching tail. "I haven't got all night!" she called, looking up at the fat full moon skimming the treetops.

I bounded onto the other side, letting out a sigh of relief. _Thank goodness that's over._ Poppypaw and Cinderpaw joined us on the island bank, and we followed our Clan into the Gathering.


	2. Gathering

The first thing I noticed was the sheer amount of cats everywhere. Their breath filled the air with mist, and their eyes gleamed from every corner. I couldn't help but feel unnerved, and think, _I'm probably the youngest, least experienced here, and they could kill me with one claw._

Luckily, I picked out a dark ginger apprentice sitting on his own. He looked like he could be the same age as I was, give or take a moon. His hazel eyes glimmered at me as I sat down beside him. The first thing that hit me was the strong reek of ShadowClan emanating from his pelt. _Wonder if I could get him to share any of his Clan's secrets? _I wondered, nodding curtly at him.

"Who're you?" the ginger apprentice asked, drawing his tongue over one glossy forepaw and using it to clean his whiskers. "Don't think I've seen you before."

I nodded, slightly unnerved at his calm, placid air. "I'm Lilypaw," I murmured. "Thornclaw's apprentice. I'm from ThunderClan."

"I could tell from the reek of your pelt!" the flame-colored cat mewed, with a _mrroww _of laughter.

Warmth, like sunlit honey, suffused through my pelt. "Hey! Who're you calling smelly? You smell like a heap of fox dung!" I purred, batting one paw at his muzzle. His hazel eyes offered no response except for a slight glint of playfulness, so I added, "What's your name, at any rate?"

"Flamepaw." The warm cast flickered away from his eyes, and his tail curled round his paws. "Tawnypelt's son. My mentor's Russetfur. Who's your mentor again?"

"Thornclaw." I dipped my head at him, where he was talking with Birchfall and Onestar. "My mother's Brightheart."

Flamepaw's eyes flashed. "The ginger-and-white queen with the half a face?" he asked disrespectfully, though I could see through his twitching tail and gleaming eyes that he was joking around. _Still, he shouldn't be talking about Brightheart like that! _

"Mnn. She's still a good fighter, though," I pointed out fairly, flicking my tail at him.

"No need to get your fur all ruffled," Flamepaw sighed. "Just makin' a joke now, will you?" He swung a sheathed paw at me, which I ducked.

"Hey!" I purred, rearing up and knocking him down, pinning his shoulders to the frost-covered earth with my forepaws. "Watch who you're messing with!"

Flamepaw kicked at me from underneath, and I flung back into a grey RiverClan apprentice. My whiskers twitched with embarrassment as the apprentice stared at me. "Watch where you're going!" she mewed, a trace of a purr entering her voice.

"Sorry. Blame him!" I said, flicking my tail in Flamepaw's direction. His green-blue eyes glowed almost sneeringly at me, and I bared my teeth playfully at him.

The RiverClan apprentice turned back to where she was talking with a young warrior from WindClan and a ShadowClan apprentice. Honeypaw put a paw on my shoulder, her whiskers twitching with amusement.

"Beaten by a ShadowClan apprentice!" she teased, before racing off to join a larger group of apprentices. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

I let out a good-tempered hiss before rejoining Flamepaw. "Thanks a lot!" I teased, kicking an amount of snow into his face.

"Hey! Watch it, you stupid furball!" Flamepaw called.

I was about to say something before a loud yowl sliced through the night air. Leopardstar, the RiverClan leader, was standing in a fork of two branches in the oak trees. I tremor ran down my spine as I realized the Gathering was starting.

"Cats of all Clans, the prey is running well in our river, even though leaf-bare has taken hold of the forest," she called, her spotted pelt rippling powerfully. I felt a little bit in awe. "We are not to be reckoned with."

"She sounds like she means business!" I mewed under my breath at Flamepaw.

"I know! She sounds fierce," Flamepaw agreed. "Wonder what's up with her?"

"Why, scared of yellow-bellied RiverClan attacking you?" I sneered, before being hushed by a WindClan elder sitting behind me. I looked back, feeling a little bit sheepish.

"Nothing much has happened in WindClan," Onestar reported. His whiskers gleamed in the moonlight, and I couldn't help noticing his lean body. _He doesn't look like a force to be reckoned with, either!_ I thought. "We chased a fox of our territory, though that's it. ThunderClan?"

A chill of awe ran through me as I saw Firestar stand up, his emerald eyes glistening in the reflection of the moonlight. "We have been recovering well from the snowstorms a quarter moon ago," he announced. "Other than that, nothing has happened in ThunderClan, either. Blackstar, have you anything to report?"

Blackstar looked uneasily at the crowd. "No." He shifted backwards, with a glance at his deputy, Russetfur.

"What's up with them?" I hissed to Flamepaw.

"Like I'm going to tell you?" Flamepaw asked, tapping my paws gently with his tail. "It's none of ThunderClan's business. Don't you think that's why he didn't mention anything?"

_Yeah, but there was definetly something that he didn't share, _I felt like pointing out. As the Clans began to regroup into their individual alliances, I glanced back at Flamepaw, who was talking with a white-furred ShadowClan elder.

"Hey, Lilypaw!" I whipped around in surprise as Cinderpaw slipped up towards me. "How'd the Gathering go for you?"

I felt an rush of warmth. "It was fun," I purred. "Wonder what was up with ShadowClan, though?" I added in an undertone. Tawnypelt and Cedarheart were walking by, and Cedarheart gave us a suspicious glance, as if he realized that we were gossiping about them.

"Dunno. They're always a bunch of hairballs," Cinderpaw said loudly. I felt a rush of laughter and embarrassment as Tawnypelt and Russetfur glared at us.

"Oops!" Cinderpaw squeaked, casting her blue eyes downwards as we headed back towards our own Clan. "You seemed to make fast friends with that one ShadowClan apprentice, though." Her eyes glittered teasingly, and her whiskers twitched. "You can't have a mate in ShadowClan, don't forget!"

I purred, feeling an unusual spark of warmth hit me as I thought of Flamepaw. "He's Flamepaw," I mewed. "Tawnypelt's son." Seeing that Cinderpaw was looking curiously at me, I added, "He's nothing special. I just happened to see him at the Gathering, that's all."

"If you say so," Cinderpaw replied.


	3. Discovery

Starlight glimmers against the surface of a perfectly still pool of water. The pale, starlit grass stretched for as long as my eyes could see, vanishing into the silver-flecked black sky. I looked around, realizing that I didn't know where I was.

Like any other cat, I've had my share of dreams and nightmares, but I've never dreamed my way into another place, a place unfamiliar to me. I pressed myself against the grass, rolling onto my back to look at the stars. It all felt real, and yet surreal. The stars seemed so close that I almost felt I could touch them, move them with the tip of my tail.

A sudden glow illuminated the clearing for a heartbeat, and Leafpool appeared, her amber eyes glittering. I stood up and shook out my long grey coat, preparing to rush over to the medicine cat, but another two flashes of light stopped me in my tracks. A pretty young tortoiseshell and broad-faced grey elder appeared. Leafpool murmured something too softly for me to hear. I wriggled closer, afraid of attracting attention.

"Leafpool." The dark grey she-cat purred. "You've been doing well with your apprentice, I see."

_Great, _I thought, licking my tail. _Even in dream worlds, all cats can ever talk about is O Mighty Jaypaw? Give me a break. _

The tortoiseshell cat flicked her ears at her two companions. "As well as you should be," she said briskly, "But there is something else we must warn you of."

I could feel my heart begin to race in my chest as I crept a little closer, painfully aware of the grasses I was rustling. _Thornclaw'd sure be mad at me if he saw me creeping along like this. He'd say I'm a three-legged badger! _I thought, forcing down a purr.

"What is it?" Leafpool pressed, her amber eyes sparkling.

The broad grey elder shook her head, and her tail swished in the cold night air. "Not even StarClan can prophesize the danger coming to the forest," she murmured sadly. "Not just ThunderClan, but the fate of the forest is in the balance." She swished her tail, glancing deep into Leafpool's eyes.

Leafpool looked as startled and confused as I was. _Danger? _I woundered. _Sure, it's leaf-bare, but that's not _danger_. We get through it every year._ "Wh-why are you telling me this, Yellowfang?" she asked at last, with an uneasy flick of her brown tabby ears.

The tortoiseshell spoke up, her voice like a gentle melody compared to the wheezing of the dark grey cat. "We know that danger is coming, Leafpool," she mewed. "In the near future."

Leafpool looked frightened. "Why can't—won't you tell me anymore?" she persisted. I could see the fear glowing in her eyes and bristling in her pelt, and her tone of voice told me she was more concerned than even I could see. I had never seen Leafpool raise her voice before.

"We don't know anymore," the tortoiseshell said softly. "I would tell you if I knew. StarClan would never let the Clans suffer."

"When we know more, we'll send a dream," wheezed the dark grey cat. "Farewell, Leafpool."

Leafpool stood up. "Farewell, Yellowfang. Farewell, Spottedleaf," she murmured. "I will do my best to protect my Clan."

"We would expect no less from you, Leafpool," the dark cat mewed, vanishing along with her tortoiseshell companion. Leafpool glanced around, her eyes surveying the clearing. For a moment, my heart stopped in my throat as I thought that she had found me, but she, too, disappeared. I closed my eyes, feeling a rush of warmth and amber light pressing in on me. I opened my eyes and realized that I had been dreaming.

"Hey, Lilypaw!" I recognized Hollypaw's dark fur and green eyes. "I just spoke to Thornclaw. He's going out hunting with Brightheart and Brackenfur, and he told you to make yourself useful around the camp 'till sunhigh."

I looked up groggily. "Thanks, Hollypaw," I groaned, sitting up and shaking scraps of moss out of my fur. "I'll do that." I squeezed out of the gap between the bramble walls of the den, sitting in a clump of heather near the camp entrance, watching Clan life begin to stir around me.

My heart almost skipped a beat as Leafpool emerged from Firestar's den, her fur glowing with the early-morning sunlight. _Was she telling Firestar about those two cats in that dream?_

_Mousebrain! _I thought suddenly, my tail slapping against my cheek. _What would make you think that she even had that dream? I mean, it was _my _dream…_ I watched as she glanced around the camp and, to my surprise, headed towards me.

"Lilypaw!" she mewed softly, flicking her tail for me to join her. Hesitantly, I got up, padding over. My mind traced back to the mallow I helped Jaypaw sort through the previous day. _Maybe I accidentally put in some frostbitten herbs? _I wondered, bowing quickly in greeting.

"H-hi, Leafpool," I mewed quickly, remembering the shocked expression she had worn last night in the dream. "What do you need?"

Leafpool's amber eyes gazed deep into mine. "I wanted you to help me collect catnip," she said at last. "Near the Twolegplace. We'd have to cross the Thunderpath. Think you're up for it?"

_She didn't know that I was there! _I thought, taking a few steps through the snow. The constant padding of pawsteps had hardened the snow into a slick, slippery coating of ice, and we skidded past the guards, Berrynose and Dustpelt, watching the camp entrance.

We walked for a little while in silence, the only sound being the crunching of our paws against the snow. My dream kept rushing back to my mind, however often I kept telling myself, _you mouse-brain! Leafpool really wasn't there!_

My curiosity, however, got the best of me. I felt unusually subdued and quiet as I mewed: "Hey, Leafpool? Did you have a dream last night?"

Leafpool did a double-take, her tail lashing. "Wh-why?" she asked.

"With a tortoiseshell queen and an old grey elder?" I pressed, feeling anticipation rising in my stomach like bile.

"How did you know?"

I paused, looking for the right words. "I…I was there." I confessed at last, feeling the knot in my stomach tighten further. Leafpool looked neither shocked nor angry, just purely confused and…could it be? Amazed?

"You saw Yellowfang and Spottedleaf?" she asked after what felt like nine lifetimes of silence. "You heard what they told me?"

I considered my answer carefully. "You mean, about how there's danger coming to the forest, only StarClan can't tell what?" I blurted out bluntly, leaping over a log. I knew I sounded stupid, but Leafpool's whiskers were quivering with what looked like pure surprise.

"And you saw this? What do you think?"

"I think? I saw two dead cats?" I suggested, picking my way through a clump of tall, dead reeds.

Leafpool looked surprised. "Not just dead cats!" she insisted. "They were medicine cats of ThunderClan before me! They're warriors of StarClan! And…it wasn't your dream!"

I flinched. "So you're mad at me?" I snapped. "Mad at me for falling asleep?"

"Not mad!" Leafpool mewed. "I'm surprised! I never knew that there'd be…another cat that could do that!" she looked around awkwardly. The stench of Thunderpath fumes were rising, and I realized that we'd walked all the way to the Thunderpath.

Leafpool didn't look like she had any intention of crossing, though. "I thought only…only…"

I thought about what Leafpool had said. "You knever knew there'd be _another _cat?" I asked. "Another cat to do what? Who has before?"

Amber eyes burned into mine, and I shifted uncomfortably under her fierce gaze. "Lilypaw, it's a wonderful gift," she mewed, in a state of clear preamble. "Do you realize what this means?"

"I can see dead cats without them walking into my dreams?" I guessed. Seriously, it sounded stupid, but that was _really _what I thought. I mean, who cares?

Leafpool stared at me like I was crazy. "_Think _about it, Lilypaw. You could go places that StarClan didn't know you were. Could learn secrets of the other Clans…"

"You want me to be a spy for ThunderClan?" I asked incredulously. I mean, I always thought that it would be against the Warrior Code to use your powers for evil…

"No, Lilypaw, but _think._" She paused, looking thoughtfully. "Do you know how we were able to save WindClan from the dog attack a few moons back?"

I shrugged. "No. Not really." I thought carefully. "Was it…the other cat who can walk in other's dreams?"

Dipping her head, Leafpool added, "Don't you get what you can _do_?"

It hit me like a wave. I could save the forest, or I could turn the Clans against each other with this power. I could learn things about the Clans and I could find out what's going on. Maybe why Blackstar was acting like such a lump of fox dung… "Who _was _the other that could walk in other cat's dreams?" I asked. "I mean, that cat could be a hero." I thought back to the dream, and somehow I already knew.

"Not…" I whispered softly, "Jaypaw?"

**Slightly rushed chapter, I know, but leading up to something good, I promise! Also, if you are reading this, I'd be thrilled if you could review with whatever you think, even if it's, '**_**you idiot! Your writing is awful!'**_** …constructive criticism is always good.**

**Apolo**


	4. Lost Alliance

"Really," Leafpool insisted. Her tabby fur was fluffed out with the cold. A light snow drifted downwards, flecking our pelts with white. "It'd be good for Jaypaw to learn more about this…_ability_. And it'd be good for you."

_Right, _I thought, glad I couldn't answer thanks to the catnip leaves in my mouth. The cold ruffled my pelt, but what _really _made my fur stand on end was the idea of working with Jaypaw. As if helping him with sorting through mallow wasn't enough!

With a desperate look in her eyes, Leafpool tried again. "Lilypaw, I understand that maybe you don't _want _to have this ability…a way to commune with StarClan when all you've ever thought you were going to be was a ThunderClan warrior…"

"Is there anything _wrong _with being a ThunderClan warrior?" I demanded shrilly. Anger and desperation welled up, drenching my voice in emotion. I let the catnip leaves flutter into the snow as we padded on. "I don't want to be like you and Jaypaw, living half a life, looking to StarClan when any normal cat would be fighting!"

Shock glinted in Leafpool's amber eyes, and her tail twitched. "Lilypaw, that's _not _your future, and you know it's not. You want to throw away a connection with StarClan just for senseless _violence!_"

"Maybe!" I shouted back. My paws ached from the cold, but somehow I tense. I shook my head, remembering, _Leafpool's the medicine cat! You ought to respect her! _"Look, maybe…it was a mistake?" I suggested.

Leafpool looked surprised. "Of course not," she mewed. With a sigh of defeat, she added, "Maybe you can talk to Jaypaw back at the camp?" She winced at the fiery look I cast her.

"I can't. Thornclaw's taking me out to…er…train," I lied, looking up at the weak outline of the sun through the dark clouds. It wasn't near sunhigh yet.

"Thornclaw can wait!" Leafpool sighed. "Come on, Lilypaw. You dropped the catnip, did you?"

"Yeah…"

**--**

"Lilypaw, pay attention. What d'you think you're doing, dreaming?" A voice sounded from the other side of the hollow, and I looked up. My vision sharpened, and I recognized Thornclaw's golden pelt. "You were supposed to attack me!"

I shook my head. I was in a fog, and I couldn't concentrate on what Thornclaw kept telling me. I was thinking about what Leafpool said, and thinking about Jaypaw, who always seemed to have some heroic vision or another, saving WindClan from the dogs, things like that. _Could that really be…me?_

"Lilypaw!" Thornclaw called impatiently. I flicked my gaze up, and realized that I had completely forgotten to attack Thornclaw.

Without thinking, I charged in, diving at Thornclaw's throat. Thornclaw flipped onto his back, kicking my shoulders and throwing me back into the dust. I looked up, stunned from the force of the impact, into Thornclaw's golden eyes.

"Honestly, Lilypaw. You could've done better as a kit," Thornclaw scolded. "Head back over to that side of the hollow, and I'll attack you like a RiverClan warrior would."

My head was buzzing. "RiverClan," I muttered softly as I retreated.

Hardly a moment passed before I saw Thornclaw dive into the air. I was too surprised to do anything, and he barreled into me, looking disappointed as well as confused. "What's up, Lilypaw?" he demanded. "This isn't the Lilypaw I remember."

_If you knew that Leafpool was trying to make me like Jaypaw, you'd understand! _I thought. "I'm just…I'm not all the way here today," I admitted, pawing at the snow. "I'm…I'm…I need a rest."

_Wasn't _that _the truth._

Thornclaw hesitated. "Maybe you've caught a cold?" he suggested. "Squirrelflight's got it, and Honeypaw looks like she has it, too. Maybe we should head to Leafpool for some herbs. With ShadowClan acting in the weird way they have been, and with Greencough surely on its way, we can't afford to have our apprentices sick!" His voice was assuring, as if he knew _exactly. _

"No! I mean…no, that's not a good idea," I grumbled, my tail twitching. I felt a sharp fear prickle in my heart as I thought of what Leafpool said. _A way to commune with StarClan…a hero…power…_

The annoyance in Thornclaw's amber eyes softened to concern. "Come on, Lilypaw," he insisted, flicking his tail for me to follow him on the path back to camp. "A little bit of herbs wouldn't hurt anyone."

_Yeah, _I thought, _but being forced to work with Jaypaw is another story…_

**--**

Leafpool's den was crowded with the scent of catnip—she must have collected the stuff I dropped—and a sweet scent I recognized as mallow. Both Leafpool and Jaypaw were crouched in the shadows of their den, and two pairs of eyes—one amber, one jayfeather-blue—stared curiously at Thornclaw and I as we squeezed through the mouth of the cave.

"Cold, Thornclaw?" Leafpool suggested, padding towards the golden-brown warrior. "Jaypaw and I've been mixing stuff for normal Leaf-Bare sicknesses. D'you have a bellyache?" her voice sounded far-out and rushed, as if there was something on her mind. I noticed, when I looked up, that her sparkling amber gaze was directed at me.

Thornclaw shifted. "It's Lilypaw," he said. "She's been doing terribly in training. Maybe she has a cold?" He winced as Leafpool looked up at him.

"Yes," she said shortly. "I'll take care of your apprentice for you." She nodded quickly at Thornclaw, and I watched as he slipped out of the den. My heart sunk as Leafpool beckoned me closer to her, forming a close circle with me, Leafpool, and Jaypaw.

"What does _she _want?" Jaypaw demanded. There was a thick layer of honey on one of Jaypaw's paws, and his pelt was stained with juniper berries. "I thought she just has a cold?"

Leafpool stared coolly at her apprentice. "Actually, we have something else to discuss with Lilypaw," she said. "I had a dream last night."

Jaypaw looked irritable, smoothing the honey off his paw with a few swipes of his tongue. "And this has to do with Lilypaw because…?" he asked.

"When've _you _been so excited about medicine cat training?" I snapped, remembering his usual reluctance towards Medicine Cat chores.

"When've _you _suddenly become important in the world of StarClan?" he retorted.

Leafpool looked both exasperated and impatient with us. "Jaypaw, be quiet," she whispered. "Lilypaw, don't provoke him."

"It's not _my _fault he's such a"—I argued, before Leafpool cut me off.

"Jaypaw, she watched my dream. Spottedleaf and Yellowfang came to me. She watched the whole thing."

Jaypaw looked annoyed. "Are you saying that she can walk in other cats dreams, too?" He glanced briefly at me before adding, "Like _I _can?"

Annoyance prickled in my pelt. "Yeah, and the whole forest is all about you," I hissed, slapping my tail into a pile of herbs. A leaf fluttered down at my paws, and I crushed it with an unsheathed claw. _And Leafpool expects me to help him do anything? He acts like he knows it all!_

"Jaypaw, quiet," Leafpool ordered. "I think Lilypaw has your unusual gift."

"And so…?" Jaypaw questioned, looking contemptuously at me. "What do you want me to have to do with _her?_"

Leafpool flicked her ears at me, with a look that seemed to say, 'don't say anything, if you know what's good for you'. "Just because you've got this…gift…doesn't mean that you're the only one," she began coolly, as if there weren't two cats about to rip each other's fur out on either side of her. "You don't know everything about this mystic power given by StarClan."

"You think that _she _knows any more?" Jaypaw suggested fiercely. "StarClan communicates with medicine cats, not _her_."

"I've got a name!" I insisted hotly. I could feel a big anger suffusing through my pelt, and my claws sunk into the earth.

"That's not the point, Lilypaw," Leafpool soothed. Her voice sounded like cool water compared to Jaypaw's fierce-tempered words. "And Jaypaw—Lilypaw has this gift for a reason. Like you do."

Neither of said anything. Jaypaw's tail churned in the air, and we glared at each other. Leafpool flicked her tail between our noses, which were no more than a mouse-length apart.

"I think that if you worked together to explore your gift, you could learn more about the forest—StarClan—and yourselves." Leafpool looked hopefully at me before dipping her head to groom her pale chest. "What do you think?"

Jaypaw's whiskers twitched. "I'm not working with _her_!"

I could feel my ears prickle with resentment and embarrassment. "And I'm not working with _him_!" I added, flicking my tail into Jaypaw's nose.

"You better not!" Jaypaw hissed. His hackles bristled, and we both forgot that we were from the same Clan. I dropped into a fighting crouch, my muscles tense. _If only Thornclaw could see me now!_

"Lilypaw! Jaypaw!" Leafpool put a paw on my shoulder, and I hissed at her irritably. "You two _need _to get along! Imagine how much more of your talent you could explore by working together."

"Not with _Jaypaw_," I said rudely.

"Not with _Lilypaw!_" Jaypaw added.

"_Good_!" I darted out of the Medicine Cat's den. Hollypaw and Sandstorm, who were standing watch over the camp, looked curiously at me. I dropped my voice, whiskers quivering with embarrassment. "I don't care _what _kind of power I have. You can _have_ it."

And then I ran off.


	5. Rendezvous

It happened so quickly. One hearbeat I was in Leafpool's den, and in the next I was tearing out of the camp entrance, anger pushing my paws through the powdery snow. I wasn't thinking. My mind was at something of an angry boil, churning and overflowing. I was too overwhelmed to speak, even as I passed the Sunhigh patrol—Hollypaw, Ashfur, and Brambleclaw—returning. Hollypaw nodded with surprise as I scrabbled past them, and Brambleclaw mewed something softly to Ashfur.

I kept running, until my shortage of breath forced me to stop. I skidded to a halt, a mouse-length away from running into a tree, and panted. The ground underpaw was soft and marshy, and the snow had disappeared. A few trees--bony black skeletons—loomed around me. The scent of rats and crowfood was strong.

_I'm in ShadowClan's territory._ In my haphazard emotional state, I felt more curious than frightened. I padded to a patch of bog weeds, licking the foul mud off of my paws. _How did I get here?_

I'm not sure how long I sat there, staring up at the eggshell-blue sky, but a rustling in the bracken awoke me from my silent reverie. The scent of ShadowClan tingled in my throat. _A patrol! _I thought, looking up at the reddish-pink sky. _It must be the sunset patrol…_

"ThunderClan?" a vaguely familiar voice sounded from nearby, followed by the soft squelching of pawsteps in the frosty mud. "ThunderClan! I know you're there!"

I flattened my ears, and my claws sunk into the marshy turf. The voice sounded like that of a younger cat, and the sound of the pawsteps were too soft and light to be a heavy cat, like an experienced warrior. _A cat I've scented before, though, _I pondered. _An apprentice, perhaps!_

A ginger head poked through the reeds, and a pair of glowing hazel eyes flashed at me. My heart gave a leap, and I sprang backwards, hissing.

"Lilypaw?" The ShadowClan cat slipped into the patch of marsh, staring at me. The apprentice's small, lissome build was illuminated in the scarlet rays of the sunset.

"How do _you_ know my name?" I demanded, raising one paw.

The apprentice rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Lilypaw," he sighed. "It's Flamepaw. From the Gathering, remember?"

I flinch as I sort of recall his ginger pelt, his green-blue eyes. "Fl-flamepaw," I stammer out at last. The scent of ShadowClan presses in on me, and I remember that this isn't a Gathering, and Flamepaw isn't my friend—there's no truce, and he's my enemy.

"What are you _doing_?" Flamepaw demanded again. "Mouse dung! Are you a spy?"

I came dangerously close to rolling my eyes. An icy breeze pierced my fur and brang to me the stench carrion, but luckily no fresh ShadowClan scents. "Er, would you believe me if I said it was an accident?" I suggested, curling my tail up.

"ShadowClan doesn't have time for _accidents_!" Flamepaw burst out. "You're _spying_, for StarClan's sake! Get _out _of here!"

I flinched, but anger got the best of me. "Stop it!" I growled. "Just…just let me go back, okay? You don't have to be so _horrible_."

"You're an enemy!" he retorted, his head held high and hazel eyes a-glitter. "I'm supposed to be horrible! You're lucky I haven't gone back to camp to send a patrol on you!"

Fear, like a shard of ice, made my blood run cold. _He's not _just _a mouse-brained apprentice, _I reprimanded myself. _Well, he kind of is. But he could bring his Clan down on me._

"Going now?" Flamepaw suggested. His head came down until his eyes were level with mine, green meeting sky blue. I forced myself to look back, ignoring the fear and bile rising in my throat.

"Alright, fine!" I hissed. "I'm going now! Happy?" I turned tail, sprinting in the opposite direction, the marsh squelching under my paws. The moon rose from the black shadows of the Twolegplace, and I flinched at the time. I wondered if the Clan was looking for me, but that thought was pushed aside by the others that pulsed through my mind, a thousand a second, like ants squirming towards an anthill. I was vaguely aware of the shadows, the familiar scent of the oak trees, that began to roll around me, the scent of Hollypaw and Brightheart as they watched me, mystified, sprint past them towards the camp.

As I pushed past the bramble walls, heart thudding, I looked around. The snow had been pushed to the sides of the camp, and the fresh-kill pile had been restocked, though it was still leaf-bare depleted. I headed towards the pile and bent my head to grab a mouse, though a voice halted me, making me squeak.

"Lilypaw! Where've you come from?"

A pair of amber eyes glint fiercely, and Leafpool's mild scent washes through my mind.

"Uhh," I murmured guiltily. "Look, I was just"—I stop in fear of embarrassing myself, turning away from the fresh-kill pile. "I was just out for today."

"The entire Clan's been wondering where you were," Leafpool scolded, flicking her tail against my shoulder. "Brightheart and Hollypaw just went out looking for you, and Cloudtail and Whitewing were poking around the Twolegplace earlier on. The woods are dangerous in leaf-bare. Don't you know that?"

Leafpool's chastising prickles my fur like thorns. "Sorry," I mumble. "Should I go out and bring Brightheart and Hollypaw back?"

"You think that'll make it all better?" Leafpool suggested fiercely.

I shrug noncommittally. _I sure blew it, didn't I? _I thought of saying.

"Honestly, Lilypaw, Firestar will want to know that you're safe. Come with me."

I follow her, stooping to lick mud from my paws. A fresh shock of horror runs through my body when I realize I still smell like ShadowClan's territory. _I know it was just an accident, but will Firestar think of it that way?_

"Come now, Lilypaw," Leafpool growled. "And maybe you can explain to Firestar what you've been doing poking 'round in ShadowClan territory?"

**A/N: Writer's block ******** I might edit/update this chapter in the future.**

**Apolo**


	6. Secret Danger

I was so, so in for it. I knew I deserved every speck of my punishment—and I hadn't even told Firestar about what happened with Flamepaw, how I'd so willingly talked to an enemy apprentice—but I didn't think StarClan would allow it.

Firestar wants me to work with Jaypaw.

It was Leafpool's idea. I lie in the moss, staring up at the patches of icy moonlight piercing the brambles that weave to form the roof of our den, replaying the scene over and over in my mind.

"She smells like ShadowClan," Leafpool mewed, her tail flicking against my haunches for me to approach Firestar. I do so with a hesitant bow, waiting for Leafpool to continue her story. "She ran out on me a little after Sunhigh. She, Jaypaw, and I were having a little talk."

Firestar's rusty fur glows in the pale moonlight, and his breath shrouds his face in a tiny silver mist. "Go on, Leafpool," he said. "Lilypaw, come sit here." He beckons for me to sit on one side of the den. I press my fur against the cold stone wall, shivering. _I'm really in for it!_

"She won't tell me why, though," Leafpool continued. "Seems a bit reluctant. Maybe you wouldn't mind telling the truth to Firestar, Lilypaw?" she added wryly, with a flash of her amber eyes.

Disappointment glowed in Firestar's emerald eyes, and it makes me feel even worse. _It wasn't my fault, for StarClan's sake! _I felt like yowling out, and I toyed, momentarily, with the idea of carrying out the action. _It wasn't like I was spying, or meeting an enemy warrior to tell them we're planning on attacking RiverClan, or something…_

"I…I…" I stammered, searching for the proper words. Leafpool cleared her throat, and Firestar's ears twitch.

"Lilypaw, ThunderClan doesn't have time for an apprentice who dawdles in other Clan's territory without a reason," he reminded me gently, smoothing his tail over my bristling spine.

Anger surged through my heart, sending a prickly warmth through my paws like concentrated sunlight. I bit my tongue in an attempt to bite back a sharp remark. "I know that!" I growled. "And I'm not dawdling in ShadowClan's territory! I was just…"

Drawing his tongue over one ginger-brown paw, Firestar narrowed his eyes. "Lilypaw, you smell like ShadowClan. What've you been up to?"

"That's what I want to know," Leafpool added. I thought I detected a flinty spark of fear glowing in her amber eyes for a moment, and I thought I saw Firestar exchange a glance with Leafpool. "Lilypaw…?

I curled up my tail. "Well…I just ran," I said finally. "I didn't realize I was in ShadowClan territory until I was in it…and then I just…" I thought about telling Firestar about Flamepaw, but I decided against it. "Then I just came back, and Leafpool brought me in here." _At least part of it's the truth, _I consoled myself.

Leafpool closed her eyes, looking exhausted, and Firestar looked at me with a deep authority glowing in his emerald eyes. "Lilypaw, you shouldn't have done it. As an apprentice, you are sworn to learn the Warrior Code from Thornclaw, and crossing territory out of anger is doing anything but."

I looked down, for once unable to meet Firestar's eyes. "I'm sorry, Firestar," I murmured, my voice nearly inaudible against the loud gusts of the wind that whipped the snow outside into a white whirl.

"What are we to do with you?" Firestar sighed. "For a cat who thinks it's alright to go wherever they please, maybe it'd be good to spend a few days in camp, helping Leafpool and the elders."

I usually don't like elder duties, but the words _helping Leafpool_ turns my blood to ice. The look in Leafpool's eyes sharpened my fear. _She's going to try and talk me into an alliance with Jaypaw, _I thought frantically. _I just know it._

"It's a good idea, Firestar," Leafpool agreed, cleaning her white chest fur with a few quick licks. "Jaypaw and I could use some help now that the cold is setting in."

"The cold _has _set in," I moaned. "_Please_, Firestar. I understand. It was wrong. I'll train extra-hard with Thornclaw, please?"

A stern glimmer flashed through the ThunderClan leader's eyes. "No, Lilypaw," he purred. "You'll train with Leafpool and Jaypaw for a while, if they need the help."

I shot a defiant glance at Leafpool, anger and resentment mixed together in my blue eyes. "For how long?" I asked. The question was out before I could force it back through my jaws.

"For as long as I say it is," Firestar said. The glow was gone from his eyes and he looked fiercely at me. "Go back to your den, Lilypaw—your sentence starts tomorrow."

The scene replays in my mind over and over again, filling my paws with a restless energy and my head with a relentless buzz. I roll over, sighing loudly enough to ruffle Honeypaw's fur. She looks up, her green eyes glowing.

"Honestly, Lilypaw, could you let the rest of us alone?" she mewed, her voice heavy with sleep. "You've been rolling around like a tortured fox all night." She sighed, murmuring something inaudible, before falling back asleep.

I spent the next few moments tense, careful not to make any noise. The camp feels silent, and I can hear everything—the soft hooting of an owl somewhere far away in the forest, the soft whistle of the icy wind blowing snow through the oak trees, and the soft crackling of leaves as prey scutters through them. My legs itch with the desire to run, run far away again, but I remember how far that took me. I shake my head and get up, picking my way through the moonglow-outlined figures of my sleeping denmates.

I sweep away the snow with a quick motion of my tail, sitting and standing watch over the camp. Tonight, there is no guard standing watch at the prickly mouth of the camp. _I can see why, _I think grimly, as the cold turns my limbs to stone. _What kind of self-respecting Clan would attack us in this weather?_

Still sleepless, but no longer feeling antsy, I creep back into the den and fall asleep.

A dank scent trickles into my nostrils, and I wake up with a jolt. Surrounding me are gigantic trees, stretching up into the blackness. I can't see their upmost branches, but they block out the sky. The light seems to come from the tree trunks instead, and the creepy fungus that creeps up around them.

_Where am I? _I wonder as I pad through the forest. Grasses surround me, narrowing the hard-packed dirt into a single path, and the shadows of seemingly-prey vanish the moment I turn to look at them. _It's so creepy here._

"Tigerstar!" A soft, familiar voice slices through the silence. I crouch, painfully aware that wherever I move, the dirt path seems to follow. _I'm hiding out in the open,_ I think guiltily. _Who is that?_

A golden-brown tabby pelt emerges from seemingly nowhere, ruffled, with amber eyes sparkling. _Lionpaw! _I almost gasp out, before another newcomer emerges.

This cat is obviously a Warrior, though not one I've met—his shoulders are broader than Tigerstars, and he has dark tabby fur, heroically battle-scarred. Lionpaw doesn't seem as frightened as I am of this new cat—he mews a soft greeting and sits in front of him, as a deputy would as they took orders from their leader.

I sift through my clouded mind, wondering whether to greet Lionpaw and the dark warrior or to run away. My paws feel rooted to the ground, and I strain my ears to listen to them. The funny thing is, I don't think they can see me. They are many fox-lengths away from me, and they seem so enticed with their conversation as to not even notice the ThunderClan apprentice listening in on them.

"Lionpaw! Training hard to be a Warrior, I suspect?" the broad-shouldered cat purrs silkily.

Lionpaw beams, his voice soaked with warmth. "Yes, Tigerstar," he reports with an enthusiastic dip of his head. "I've been training hard."

_Tigerstar! _The voice cuts through my heart. _Tigerstar, the infamous cat of legend. Tigerstar, Firestar's old enemy. Tigerstar…Brambleclaw's son! Lionpaw, Hollypaw, and Jaypaw's kin!_

I shiver. I know Tigerstar is dangerous, but Lionpaw is Tigerstar's kin. _Maybe he just checks in on him sometimes, _I console myself, forcing myself to stop shaking.

"You will be a great asset to your Clan," Tigerstar adds, with the warmth and kindness of a Queen addressing her kits. "And you will be recognized as a hero, Lionpaw. There is danger to come."

I prick my ears, straining to listen for more.

"A pack of animals, stronger than dogs and smart as cats are coming to the forest. They will threaten every Clan, and destroy the peace that has existed in the forest since the Great Journey."

My blood turns to ice, and I want to cry out, _No! You're wrong. Nothing will happen to us! _But my jaws feel frozen and my paws rooted to the soil.

"What do you mean?" Lionpaw asks, tipping his head curiously. "And how will I stop this?"

Tigerstar's amber eyes glow with ambition. "Even StarClan cannot forsee the coming of these creatures," the former ShadowClan leader adds. "They can only see great danger that lies ahead, with the fate of all Clans in the balance. But I can see the danger, Lionpaw, clearer than they can…it is danger that only a sharp mind with sharp claws—like you—can ever defeat."

Lionpaw looked frightened, his amber eyes sparkling with fear. "I ought to tell Firestar!" he hissed. "This _danger…_is it coming soon? Is it in the forest now?"

Tigerstar's eyes gleam. "The danger is coming," he mewed. "And if you fight it, you will be a hero."

"How will I fight it?" Lionpaw questioned. His muscles looked as tense as mine, bulging in the moonlight. "How, Tigerstar? Will the danger destroy us?"

"Not if you train with me, Lionpaw," Tigerstar answers silkily. "Not if you train as we have been training."

_As we have been? _I wondered, tilting my head to one side.

"Yes, Tigerstar," Lionpaw mewed. "

"It is close to Dawn, Lionpaw," Tigerstar adds, as calmly as if he were discussing the weather. "And it is time for you to return to your Clan."

"Farewell, Tigerstar!" Lionpaw calls, before vanishing into a puff of darkness. I close my eyes, feeling horrified. Darkness presses in on me, as terrifying as blindness, before the blackness is filled with amber light.

"Lilypaw, wake up!" Hollypaw's dark fur is pressed against my mouth, and her green eyes glow with amusement. "Confined to camp, eh? Helping Jaypaw?"

Terror still pulsed in my every hearbeat. "Y-yes…'morning, Hollypaw." I staggered to my paws.

"I'd best go now, anyways," Hollypaw added. "You're up really late. Have fun, anyways!" With a cheery flick of her tail, she vanished out of the den.

I stay where I am, my paws fixed to the mossy nest I stand on. In the corner of my mind, I realized that I had walked in Lionpaw's dream, and that I wasn't supposed to know anything. _Danger is coming, _I think. _And it's going to be bad. But if I wasn't even supposed to know, what am I going to do?_


	7. Cry of the Lakeshore

"Lilypaw, you're here." Leafpool's soft amber eyes looked up and held mine for a few, brief moments. The weak sunlight, filtering through the clouds left from the snowstorm last night, cast Leafpool's brown-striped fur into a near amber glow. "You'll be helping Jaypaw with our herb stocks today."

I glanced at Jaypaw, who doesn't look up. A prickle of frustration stabs at my paws and my heart like a thorn. At one time, not more than a quarter-moon ago, I would have loved to be ignored by Jaypaw. Somehow, I want him to look up at me. My dream floods back into my mind and sends me reeling. _Would Jaypaw understand? _I wondered cautiously, thinking of Lionpaw's enthusiasm, his lack of distrust around Tigerstar. _Does he know that his brother visits Tigerstar?_

A soft flash of fur brushed across my eyes. Leafpool stares at me, her eyes glinting with annoyance. "Lilypaw, wake up," she growled. "You're going to help Jaypaw sort out the dead marigold from the fresh flowers."

The morning came and went with a tense, icy feeling. I could feel Leafpool's eyes watching me and Jaypaw as she mixed poultices. Sometime near sunhigh, the snow had stopped and Leafpool announced she was going out.

"To fetch some mallow," Leafpool mewed, shaking out her thick fur. "Before the snows start again. Jaypaw, you and Lilypaw are going to sort through the juniper berries." She rolled a pile of crushed, frost-blackened berries towards Jaypaw's paws.

Jaypaw glared at me as Leafpool vanished from sight. "What do _you _want?" he asked, challengingly meeting my eyes as if he just realized I was there.

I met Jaypaw's gaze fairly and evenly, blue eyes meeting blue. The silence stretched for several heartbeats, and I looked down. "Look," I sighed. "Can we just sort through this juniper?" I began to paw through the pile, the deep color of the berries staining my paws.

Jaypaw sighed, and his forepaw brushed against mine as he rolled a frost-nipped berry from the pile. I shivered, feeling my heart race with an unusual anxiety. _StarClan, Lilypaw! _I scolded myself. _What's up with you?_

My head spun with confusion. Jaypaw worked without a spark of emotion, and his cloudy blue eyes gave away nothing. A shiver rippled my pelt as I realized that Jaypaw, too, shared Tigerstar's dark legacy. _Does Tigerstar visit _himI wondered. _Is it really such a big deal that Jaypaw has the blood of an evil, dead cat, anyways? _A flutter of butterfly wings beat in my stomach. _Does he know danger is coming?_

A furry tail brushed against my cheek, and Jaypaw's voice, bitter and irritated, rose from the other side of the den. "Hey, Lilypaw," he snorted. "Planning on getting back to work anytime soon?"

I glanced down at the juniper berries that lay below me, crushed under the weight of my paws. I hadn't realized that I'd crushed the berries. "W-wow. Sorry," I muttered hastily, drawing my tongue over a juniper-flavored paw. The bitter flavor stung my tongue.

"What's biting _you_?" Jaypaw questioned, nudging the good berries back to their position in the back of the den. "You're acting like a sleeping badger." He glanced up, and a faint glow of amusement soothing the anger in his blue eyes.

I shivered. "Well…Jaypaw…" I mewed awkwardly, words coming out thick and heavy in my tongue. I played around with the shadows and words in my head, thinking of Jaypaw's brother and the dark message he certainly held in his paws.

Jaypaw flicked his tail, beckoning me to come closer. I approached him cautiously, the ground feeling cold under my paws. _What do I tell him? _I wondered. _How much do I _not _tell him?_

"Well…I had a dream last night," I admitted slowly, carefully avoiding any mention of Lionpaw.

Jaypaw's ears twitched. "From StarClan?" he suggested slowly, his voice flat and emotionless once again. "What did you see?"

_Where was I last night? _I thought, recalling the eerie trees wrapped in fungus and the branches that blocked out the sky. "Not StarClan," I explained. "A place with trees that"---

"Block out all light from the sky?" Jaypaw finishes hastily. He draws his tongue over his paw and swipes it around his whiskers. "Tigerstar walks there, and Hawkfrost. What did you see?" The warmth in his tone surprises me, in contrast to the bitter voice he uses most of the time. I took a deep breath, preparing to tell the rest of the story.

"Tigerstar was there," I said quickly. "And"—I bit my tongue after almost saying _Lionpaw_—"he was talking to a cat that I couldn't see."

Interest glimmered in Jaypaw's eyes. "Did the cat have _ThunderClan_ scent?" he pressed.

Guilt makes me look down, avoiding eye contact. "I don't remember," I lied. "But Tigerstar said that there's danger coming to the forest—danger smarter than a cat and stronger than a dog."

"Stronger than a yappy Twoleg pet that can't catch a pigeon if it was starving?" Jaypaw sneered, twisting his paw against the hard-packed earth.

Frustration pricked in my belly. "Do you not believe me?" I snapped back.

Jaypaw's tail curled up. "That's not what I said," he snorted. "But is that _all _Tigerstar said? Nothing about what the danger _was_?"

I shook my head. "No, nothing." Lionpaw's lithe, golden-brown body comes to mind, and I shake the image away. _There's no reason for him to know about that, _I reminded myself.

Jaypaw looked confused. "I don't know what to make of it," he admitted. "Honestly, Lilypaw, all I could say is to keep dreaming." To my surprise, his tail flicks out and grazes my whiskers, leaving a tingly feeling in my belly. "There's something to make of this, Lilypaw; I wish I knew what."

Leafpool's arrival put a stop to our conversation. She arrived with sweet-scented mallow dangling from her jaws, her amber eyes glazed from the cold. Dropping the mallow, she mewed, "Jaypaw—Lilypaw. On my way back from camp, I noticed a patch of catmint just on our side of the border, near ShadowClan."

An awkward silence briefly ensued, before Leafpool shakes her head, pawing her mallow into the pile. "I want you two to go out and fetch it," she added quickly. "Have you two been getting along?"

"Just fine," I mewed shortly, slipping through the bramble walls that surrounding Leafpool and Jaypaw's den. Jaypaw follows, his bright-blue eyes gleaming and his fur fluffed out against the cold winds that whip our whiskers into our eyes.

"Bye, Leafpool," Jaypaw called, flicking his tail. He followed me from the camp and into the ravine, battling against the bitter cold. The scent of snow and ice wipes away the vivid, dark colors of the forest and the scents of ThunderClan. I feel like we're walking inside of a cloud.

As we hurried into the shelter of the oak trees, Jaypaw caught up to me, shivering. "It's cold!" he purred, sounding uncharacteristically bright. "Headed to the ShadowClan border?"

_Really! _I bite back the sarcastic remark. _For a cat who claims that they're _not _useless…_

"I can't smell anything because of the wretched snow," Jaypaw snorted. "That's how I get around—with scents and feelings—but my paws are numb and the scent of ice makes it impossible to navigate."

Despite my efforts to suppress it, a bitter remark rose from the back of my throat like bile. "Fine, then," I growled. "Just follow me."

As we trekked along the lakeshore, the winds whipped the snow and made it impossible to see a few fox-lengths ahead of us. My paws floundered in the snow, higher than chest-deep. Jaypaw growled from behind me, nearly drowning in the snowdrifts up to his neck.

"Lilypaw!" he called fiercely. "Are we anywhere near the ShadowClan border?"

I lifted my head as the wind blasted against the roof of my mouth. I couldn't see anything through the swirling pelt of white that clung to the forest like mist. "I can't see or smell anything!" I called back. The helplessness made me shiver. _Is this what it's like to be blind._

Jaypaw padded up to stand beside me, his thick grey fur coated with powdery snow."Forget it," he murmured. "It's not worth it for a bunch of flowers."

I dipped my head, relieved to get back to the warmth of camp. The cold air froze in my lungs and stung my head and pelt. "We'll tell Leafpool when we get back," I agreed thankfully. "Let's go." I glanced over my shoulder at the swirling mess of snow that surrounded us, the flakes falling thicker and heavier on our pelts and shoulders.

Jaypaw halts suddenly, his tail-tip laying on my shoulder. "Hey, Lilypaw," he hisses urgently. "Listen! Do you hear something?"

I froze, shivering as the wind pierced my grey-tabby pelt. The wind whistled through the trees with a sound like white water through rocks; the snap of a branch echoed faintly in the clearing. A low, mournful howl slices through the wind, distinct and clear. The noise continues for several long heartbeats before falling silent.

"What is that?" I asked, fear pulsing through my veins. "D'you think some cat's lying injured?"

Jaypaw's tail curled up. "Dunno," he muttered, continuing towards the camp.

"Should we tell Firestar?" I pressed, catching up to Jaypaw. My heart skipped along, quicker than the wind. I don't like things that I can't see, touch, or bite.

Jaypaw shook his head. "We'll figure it out when the storm blows over," he said decisively, pushing his way through the powdery snowdrifts.

I glanced back once again. A grey shape, long-legged and slender with a plumy tail and pricked cat's ears, stand near the lakeshore, with amber eyes that gleam, piercing through the snow with an unflinching certainty. The wind howls through the trees again, and the creature is gone.


	8. Friendship in the Forming

"It's lucky you two returned at all with the snow," Leafpool mewed as Jaypaw and I returned to camp, our pelts covered in snow. "Anything unusual happen out there?"

Jaypaw threw an uneasy glance at me, his jayfeather-blue eyes twinkling. I knew what he was thinking of—the mysterious cry we heard by the lakeshore. _What was that? _I wondered, settling onto the hard-packed earth of the medicine cat's den and laying my tail between the celandine and juniper berries.

A little jolt prickled my heart as I remembered the other thing Jaypaw _didn't _see—not that he could see anything, that was—the plumy-tailed, silver-furred creature standing in the snow. _Too big to be a cat, _I considered thoughtfully. _Too quiet to be a dog. And that leaves one option. The creature was an indistinct hallucination._

"No," Jaypaw said, his voice returning to its usual gruff state. "We didn't see anything. What else do we need to do?"

And that settled things.

Near sunset, Leafpool dismissed me and Jaypaw to eat and talk with our friends around the camp. Jaypaw whisked past me, snatching a mouse from the fresh-kill pile and retreating to the shelter of a hollowed-out trunk of an oak tree. I picked up a thrush hesitantly, surveying the camp for a friendly face. Mousepaw and Hazelpaw's eyes glowed from the apprentice's den, while Brambleclaw, Squirrelflight, and Firestar sat, huddled, near Firestar's den. I selected a fat rabbit and, after a moment of hesitation, joined Jaypaw in the shelter of the oak trunk.

Jaypaw's whiskers quivered in surprise as I set my meal down next to his. The trunk of the oak was wide enough to shelter the two of us, but we were close together; our grey fur mingled with grey as our pelts touched. Jaypaw's blue eyes glinted, and he flicked his ears at me as I took my first bite of food.

"What're you doing here?" Jaypaw asked, swallowing a bite of his mouse. He seemed unusually stiff, his breathing light and shallow in his tiny body. "Don't you have anywhere better to go?"

Irritation flooded my body. _Don't you have anything friendlier to say? _I wondered, though I couldn't push away the stinging feeling Jaypaw's words had left inside my body. Unable, for once, to come up with a sharp remark, I took another bite of rabbit. "Why, you don't want me to be here?" I said, looking at the snowdrifts rolling around outside the tree trunk.

"I never said that." Jaypaw's reply was curt, and I felt prickle of annoyance. _And I thought you were warming up to me, back at the lakeshore…_

Several awkward moments passed. I was considering taking the rest of my rabbit to the apprentice's den and eating with Mousepaw and Hazelpaw before Jaypaw broke the silence. "So, you really walk in other cat's dreams," he said finally, his voice almost inaudible against the whining of the winds.

I shrugged. "I know I do," I said. _A little more curt than I would have liked…_I thought, nibbling at my dinner, _but I guess I was being alright…_

Jaypaw shivered, his blue eyes clouded and troubled. "StarClan haven't spoken to me directly in the last moon or so," he admitted shiftily, his thick tail brushing against the rough bark of the tree trunk. He had an air of one not saying as much as they knew.

I flicked my ears in his direction before realizing he couldn't see me. "Why, what've they been doing?" I asked briskly, looking down at the last few bites of my fresh-kill. _It's all I'll be eating until evening tomorrow, _I thought sadly, swallowing the mouthful of prey.

"Well…I've been having this dark dream several times over…" Jaypaw's voice trailed off, like he wasn't sure if he could trust me.

"Good for you," I said. The moment after I said it I realized how sarcastic I sounded. "Well, I mean…just…"

The tip of Jaypaw's tail gave a minute flick. "Something with shadows and a horrible screeching," he concluded, rising to his paws. "I don't know what it means. I wake up before any cat brings the explanation."

"Do you," I said, scraping snow over the prey bones. "Well…I've never had a dream like that before."

_Smart, Lilypaw, _I thought the moment after I said that. _Of course you haven't! He knows that!_

"Yes, I know you haven't," Jaypaw mewed. "I just wish that I knew what it _means_…"

Curiosity twinged in my stomach, and my mind drew back to the dream I had about Tigerstar's cryptic warning to Lionpaw. _Maybe they're related, _I thought, cocking my head to one side. _Maybe somehow, the two of us can put two and two together…piece together clues…_

For what must have been the thousandth time, I glanced over at Jaypaw. He looked frustrated and something else, his fur was fluffed out, and he looked…uncomfortable.

I took a deep breath, recalling all my memories of Jaypaw's sharp tongue and fierce temper. And yet, all I could say was the truth…

"I want to help you." I exhaled loudly, unable to look search Jaypaw's face for the expression he carried after my preposition.

Jaypaw was silent for a long time, before drawing in a long and steady breath. "You mean…like allies?" he meowed at last, whiskers quivering with the heaviness of the awkward silence.

Guilt prickled at my pelt. _Just allies? _I wondered. _I bet that Jaypaw's never had…_

"A friend," I said finally, quickly giving my white-dipped paws a few brisk licks. "I mean, we'll work together, but as…friends."

Jaypaw tipped his head with an unreadable expression in his eyes.

I rested my head against his shoulder briefly, feeling the warmth of his silver-grey fur and the gentle feeling of his uneven, shallow breathing. "Oh, Jaypaw," I purred, lifting my head to stare into his eyes.

"What?" Jaypaw snapped, looking away. "As far as I'm concerned, I just want to figure out this myster"—

I cut him off. "You've felt real friendship, _have _you?"

I curled my tail around his as he breathed softly in my ear, "No."

My whiskers brushed his, quivering with amusement. "Until now."


	9. The Stench of Battle

For the first time in what felt like seven moons, amber morning-sunlight glowed through the gaps in the bramble roof in the den, and I was awake to watch it. Cinderpaw and Honeypaw were awakening near me; I tried hard not to look at Lionpaw, still remembering the dark dream we had unknowingly shared.

From across the den, Poppypaw's clear blue eyes met mine. "'Morning, Lilypaw," she murmured, flicking through the rows of sleeping cats to wriggle out of the den. "Nice morning. Finally, the storm's broken."

I followed her out of the den. Snow was piled around the camp—no doubt the work of the Warriors who were now sharing tongues in the weak sunlight flooding the clearing—higher than my chest. The wind was brisk, but at least it was sunny. "Thank StarClan," I added softly, sinking into the icy crust that coated the earth.

Brightheart and Cloudtail—my mother and father—approached us. Brightheart wrapped her tail around my neck, reeling me in closer to her, and Cloudtail swatted a paw playfully at the two of us. I looked up into my mother's bright, single green eye. "G'morning, mom," I mewed, stifling a yawn.

Cloudtail twitched his tail quickly. "Lilypaw, Firestar and Thornclaw are wanting to see you," he said. "In Firestar's den." He turned to Poppypaw, who was grooming her dappled-tortoiseshell fur. "Brightheart's taking you out today," he ordered. "To hunt while the prey's out, collecting food before more snow."

I turned around, calling over my shoulder, 'Not _more_ snow!"

Brightheart nodded, her whiskers twitching in farewell, and Poppypaw, who was following her, added, "A truly brave Warrior never complains!"

The lichen around Firestar's den twitched, and he appeared, his lithe build outlined in glowing amber sunlight. Thornclaw appeared with a second rustle of the curtains, his amber eyes gleaming as he looked down at me. "Good morning, Lilypaw," they both said, eerily synchronized. "Come in."

I padded in hesitantly, the lichen tickling my shoulders. I sat near the front of the den while Firestar sat across from me, and Thornclaw to one side. "You have been training with Leafpool and Jaypaw for nearly a half-moon now," he stated matter-of-factly.

I tilted my head to one side. _Had it been that long? _I wondered. It had been several days since I made friends with Jaypaw, but I never dreamed I'd been helping with Medicine cat chores for so long already.

Seeming to grow impatient of my silence, Thornclaw added, "Both Firestar and I see it fit that you return to your training already."

"We hope it's taught you a lesson," Firestar added, stopping to lick a scrap of lichen from one flame-colored ginger paw. "But our Clan needs Warriors."

His voice was grim, slightly chilling, and I remembered Jaypaw's words: _Darkness. Loud cries…_

_Does Firestar know danger's coming? _I wondered. _Has StarClan warned him? _I shook my head, remembering that I was still in front of my mentor and Clan leader. I bowed stiffly, my neck cracking loudly as I bent it. "Th-thank you, Firestar," I said quickly, scuffling my paws on the hard-packed, cold earth.

Firestar's emerald-green eyes, similar in color to his kin, Hollypaw's, bore into mine with the same intensity as Jaypaw's often did. "Is there something you wish to tell us, Lilypaw?" he intoned.

_Mousedung! _I thought. _I'm obviously lucky that Jaypaw can't see the expression in my eyes or he'd know more about me than I do. If Firestar can tell… _"No," I said hastily. "There's nothing wrong."

"Good, then," Firestar said briskly. "You and Thornclaw may leave." He dipped his head and I bowed back, sliding from the den a few heartbeats before Thornclaw reappeared at the entrance, his amber eyes glimmering with excitement.

"We're back to training now, Lilypaw," he said. "What do you say you and I patrol the ShadowClan border?"

_Shadowclan! _I thought, excitement shooting through my heart. _Hope they're up to no good! _After a half-moon of using my paws to mix herbs treat coughs, my claws sank out into the ground, prepared to attack.

Thornclaw and I were nearly out of camp when Leafpool and Jaypaw approached us. Leafpool's jaws were full of what looked like burdock root, and Jaypaw's paws were glowing and covered in a light slick of honey. "Lilypaw!" Leafpool mewed. "Where d'you think you're going?"

My tail twitched uncomfortably as I noticed Jaypaw looking at me. "I'm back to Warrior training now," I said after a moment's silence. "Firestar and Thornclaw lifted the punishment."

Leafpool's eyes flashed for a moment before she laid her tail on my shoulder. "Good for you, Lilypaw!" she said, her words bright but her eyes worried. "We'll miss you."

"Indeed we will." Jaypaw's blue eyes looked amused. "Who else can we force to mix the bad-smelling balms now, and rid the elders of ticks?"

Thornclaw nodded to the two Medicine Cats in farewell, and we made our way towards the camp's entrance in silence. Outside of the camp, the snow thickened, and I was nearly neck-deep in the snow. The bitter scent of frozen water from the lake made it hard to breathe, and I found myself winded as we approached the lakeshore.

"Out of shape so quickly, Lilypaw," Thornclaw teased, perching on a fallen log that was half-covered in snow. "We ought to get back to training."

I pushed back an annoyed comment that rose in my throat. _It was just a joke! _I reminded myself. "Come on, let's get going." I pushed myself to my paws, my legs stinging as blood rushed back into them.

"Let's remark the borders—thanks to the snow, no cat has been here in awhile—and then we'll have a sniff around and see what ShadowClan's been up to." He stopped to mark one of the tall pines that divided ShadowClan and ThunderClan territory; I glanced around for any sign of ShadowClan. There was none.

Thornclaw rejoined me, and we patrolled up and down the border for awhile in silence. The silence was broken by the occasional rustle of prey in the undergrowth—regrettably, on the other side of the ShadowClan border—and the snapping of twigs.

"Lilypaw!" Thornclaw mewed suddenly, sounding alert. "Can you smell that?"

The wind shifted, blasting a bizarre scent into my nose. It smelled like carrion, and I screwed my nose, eyes watering. "ShadowClan smells bad, but not _that _awful," I said cheekily. "Great StarClan, what _is _that?"

The tip of Thornclaw's tail twitched. "Let's check it out." I watched anxiously as he crossed over the ShadowClan border, his ears pricked and muscle tensed. After a moment of hesitation, I joined him. The reek of the creature that was here was overpowering.

"I hear something coming, Tawnypelt." A soft voice, hardly audible over the sound of Thornclaw trekking through the snow, emerged through the trees. I tensed, cautiously creeping back towards the ThunderClan border.

"Take a look around, Ivypaw, Snowbird," a female voice whispered back. The voices were coming closer, followed by the sound of pawsteps in the snow.

I glanced desperately at Thornclaw, who was still scenting for whatever bad-smelling creature we'd heard on the ShadowClan border. I could make out three pelts—one grey, one tortoiseshell, and one white—through the gaps in the undergrowth and snow.

"Tawnypelt!" A young, female voice sounded, slicing through the still air. "I can smell those…those creatures!"

Tawnypelt's growl sounded frustrated. "We'd better tell Blackstar," she said grimly. "After what they…well, he wouldn't want them back, I thought we chased them out…" Tawnypelt's voice trailed off, returning with alarm. "I can smell ThunderClan!"

She and her Clanmates emerged to meet me and Thornclaw, standing just on the ShadowClan side of the border. I tensed up guiltily, but Thornclaw raised one unsheathed paw.

Three cats—Tawnypelt, a grey apprentice who was staring at me, bewildered, and a pure-white she-cat whose blue eyes reminded me strongly of my father, Cloudtail, were standing in front of us. The apprentice whispered something to Tawnypelt, who flicked her ears briskly in reply. "Thornclaw, what are you doing here?" she asked, her amber eyes turning to stare at my mentor.

Thornclaw returned Tawnypelt's gaze. "Something rancid-smelling was on your side of the border," he mewed coldly. "We wanted to know what it was."

The white warrior's hackles raised. "What ThunderClan smells on our territory is none of their business!" she snarled loudly, drawing back her lips to reveal thorn-sharp, moonbeam-colored teeth. The grey apprentice and Tawnypelt followed suit, their tails lashing and bodies pressed against the snow.

I glanced nervously at Thornclaw, who pressed himself uneasily against the snow. I looked at our attackers; they were stronger-looking than I was. _We're outnumbered! _I realized desperately.

Even Thornclaw seemed to realize this. He stood up, shaking out his bracken-colored fur. "I'm sorry, Tawnypelt," he mewed finally. "We shouldn't have crossed the border."

"I know you shouldn't have." Tawnypelt's voice was both tart and guarded. I thought of the vague summary of events Blackstar had given at the gathering, Flamepaw's brief, guarded response when I asked him about his Clan at the gathering, Tawnypelt's guarded words. _ShadowClan's hiding something, _I thought fearfully. _Is it dangerous to them…ThunderClan…all of us? _

"We'll leave. See you at the gathering, Tawnypelt," Thornclaw added, padding back through the pine trees towards the border. I felt myself relax as the scent of ThunderClan's oaks and ice from the lakeshore pushed away the vivid scent of ShadowClan and that bizarre animal we never got around to seeing…

As we departed towards the lake, still covered in a sheet of silencing ice, I couldn't help but wonder about what was happening with ShadowClan. And, I thought triumphantly, I had a good idea of with whom I'd be walking with tonight, in my dreams.

A/N: Thanks sooo much to all _Dreamcaster _fans and readers! If you write a review, I'm in a predicament on the question: should Lilypaw fall in love with Jaypaw or Flamepaw (in the end)…? If you could add that to the review, that would rule. 

**Apolo**


	10. A Fateful Night

"So ShadowClan's being nasty furballs again, are they?" Jaypaw asked. We were sitting together in the middle of the camp, enjoying the last, weak rays of leaf-bare sunlight that slanted onto our backs as we ate our meal. Jaypaw's fur smelled soothingly like juniper and honey, but his eyes were troubled as I told him the news of what had happened to me and Thornclaw on patrol.

I nibbled thoughtfully at a bit of fresh-kill. "I think they were trying to hide something," I said at last. "They were upset that we'd scented that…that…_thing_ on their territory. They told us it wasn't any of ThunderClan's business."

Jaypaw cocked his head to one side. "You didn't tell me _that _part," he murmured thoughtfully. "Tell the story again, Lilypaw…"

Sighing and closing my eyes, I recounted the tale in as many details as I could recall. Jaypaw's curiosity towards the events of the patrol was burning, and I'd already told him the entire story three times over. When I finished the story in all its minute detail, I rolled over. A three-quarters moon was skimming over the silver treetops, and the cranberry-and-indigo sky was spattered with silver stars like dew across a flower petal.

"I don't understand it, really," Jaypaw mewed. "Oh, I _wish _you'd seen whatever was there!"

Frustration welled up in my stomach. "It wasn't _our _fault ShadowClan showed up!" I snorted, rolling back onto my belly and swallowing the last few bites of shrew. "Thornclaw and I were _trying _to see what was going on." I poked a small hole into the frosty earth and buried my prey bones, sweeping the earth back into the hole with a flick of my paw.

Jaypaw ran his tail uncomfortably along the loosened dirt. "You know…it's just that, the only solution _I _can see is to try and see the answer in our dreams." His gaze drifted upwards towards the star-flecked dusk sky. "Perhaps, if we both tried…"

I nodded, hardly listening to what he was saying. My head spun around me like a leaf in the wind, racing forwards and backwards, trying to put together a sketchy view of the truth. "We don't _know _if whatever we scented was…dangerous," I said finally, smoothing a claw to make a design in the frost-covered earth. "It could just be…I dunno…some sort of loner…"

A long silence, cold and quiet as the ice over the lake, stretched between us. "You know that's not the case, Lilypaw!" Jaypaw smirked. "You sounded so anxious to tell me."

I pushed back the anger that bubbled in my throat. "I guess so," I said finally, "But it's hard to believe that there's…" I let my voice trail off, and my thoughts wandered towards the dream I shared with Lionpaw and Tigerstar. _Maybe whatever ShadowClan is trying to hide from us is the danger? _I wondered. _Yeah, that fits!_ _Maybe…_

The silence stretched for several more moments before Jaypaw stood up, shaking out his thick grey fur. "I'm going to go, Lilypaw," he mewed. "'Night." He took a few steps towards the medicine cat's den, seemed to think better of it, and pressed his muzzle against my ear. "I'm going to try and dream tonight," he added in a hushed undertone that sent his breath towards Silverpelt in a puff of silver smoke.

I closed my eyes and let my whiskers brush Jaypaw's cheek. "I will, too," I breathed back. "I'll tell you about what I saw in the morning…"

I looked up at the star-flecked sky through the gaps in the bramble ceiling in the apprentice's den. My head was spinning, and I'd totally forgotten about trying to sleep. _How can I sleep, _I wondered, rolling over to stare at Mousepaw's moonlight-dappled grey coat, rising and falling peacefully with each breath, _when I've got a mission? As in, a mission to find out the secrets of ShadowClan?_

After a few long moments, I rolled back onto my back, pawing at the air with one white-dipped paw.

"Hey, _Lilypaw_?" A sleepy voice mewed. I looked up to see Honeypaw's pale coat gleaming in the moonlight, with her green eyes sticky and half-closed with sleep. "What are you _doing_?"

I flinched, lowering my paw. I hadn't realized how much noise moss could make when you're rolling around, trying to dream yourself into the deep-hidden secrets of ShadowClan. "Uh," I breathed back, tucking my paws under my chest. "Sorry, Honeypaw—I'll shut up."

Honeypaw closed her eyes, but murmured drowsily, "If you can't sleep, at any rate, go out. Sandstorm's assessing me tomorrow morning." She rolled over with a soft _thud_, and her breathing became slow and regular once again.

I was too restless to sleep, and I was afraid of awakening Honeypaw again, so I padded out of the den to sit, staring, at the ThunderClan camp. The camp was suffused in silvery moonglow, and a soft, cold breeze rustled the bare branches above, shifting the long purple shadows that were cast over the camp.

The soft sound of pawsteps across the ground startled me, and I whipped around to see Spiderleg padding across the camp, his amber eyes glowing in the starlit darkness. "Lilypaw," he breathed, his voice barely above a whisper, "What are you doing here? Are you part of the moonrise patrol?" His tail swished back and forth, and his fur was fluffed up with the cold.

I stood up, shaking out my grey-tabby pelt. "Well…" I said uncomfortably, kneading the earth with my paws.

Spiderleg dipped his head. "Ah, well, you can join the moonrise patrol, at any rate," he meowed. "Brightheart and Sorreltail are coming, too." Without waiting for my response, he minced off towards the camp entrance, which was being guarded by Dustpelt and Berrynose. Both toms nodded silently at us as we stood near them, and the only noise came from the sound of snoring Warriors in the den nearby.

"Spiderleg!" I looked up to see my mother and Sorreltail walking side-by-side. Sorreltail's tortoiseshell fur looked like a patchwork of many different colors, and my heartrate smoothed at the scent of my mother, Brightheart, who wrapped her tail around my neck.

"I didn't know that you've been sent on the Moonhigh patrol," she mewed in her cool, soothing voice. "I thought apprentices usually spend the nights sleeping…" She pressed her muzzle against my cheek.

"I wasn't supposed to come," I admitted, as Spiderleg and Sorreltail began to pad through the ravine, "It just happened. I couldn't sleep." I nodded before gliding off towards the rest of our patrol, several rabbit-lengths ahead of us.

The night was unusually calm and silent, as if it was frozen by the frigid leaf-bare air. I kept close to Brightheart and Sorreltail, drawing comfort from the fact that I was pressed between three strong, quick Warriors. The moon scent its frosty glow over the forest, and I glanced around at our surroundings, sparkling with starlight and frost.

A bitter breeze swept over us, and I realized that the scent of ShadowClan was on the wind. Looking up, I realized that the trees around us were both oaks _and _pines—we were at the ShadowClan border again.

"I'm going to sweep up the border," Spiderleg mewed. _Thornclaw must have passed along the message to the rest of the Clan, _I decided, following Sorreltail and Brightheart as they padded up and down the border.

Sorreltail's tail brushed my flank, and her amber eyes met mine. "You were here earlier today," she mewed. "Tell me, did you smell something _that _awful?"

I lifted my head to drink in the air. Sure enough, the same strong scent of carrion was carried in the breeze. Brightheart wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, Lilypaw," she mewed after a long silence. "I never quite remembered ShadowClan smelling _that _terrible."

I opened my mouth to answer Sorreltail's question, but we were interrupted by Spiderleg's loud gasping. His amber eyes were wild with fear, and his ears pricked.

"There's intruders—_injured _intruders!" he mewed between gasps of air.

Panic flared in Brightheart's single green eye, and she pressed me closer to her. I could feel her uneven breathing, and I felt a sharp stab of fear. "ShadowClan?" Brightheart whispered softly. "On our territory?"

Spiderleg's amber eyes glittered wildly. "Not ShadowClan," he mewed. "It looks like rogues."

Sorreltail's tail swung so hard that it touched my ribs. "You said they're _injured_?" she repeated.

"Yes, badly," Spiderleg clarified. "Come! _Quickly!_"

A/N: Now you have seen my poor attempts at a cliffhanger ;-D Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing, and a special shout-out to Tainted's Domain, who offered a very nice welcome onto their forum .

**Apolo**


	11. The Traveler's Tale

Sorreltail gasped, her eyes glimmering. "What are we going to do?" she asked.

Brightheart stood in front of us, her tail lashing back and forth with fear. "Sorreltail, run back to camp and fetch Leafpool," she ordered. "Spiderleg, show me and Lilypaw where these loners are…"

I followed the two Warriors, wondering why Brightheart hadn't sent me back to camp to bring Leafpool—after all, it was an apprentice's task. Fear mounted in my chest as the smell of blood entered the breeze. _StarClan, let it all be alright! _I thought, panic flaring in my head.

"Over here!" Spiderleg panted, leaping to the side of a dark, broad-shouldered tom slumped on the ground. Blood gleamed on the grass nearby him, but the tom lifted his head, blue eyes glowing weakly.

Brightheart sprinted to the dark tom's side, and I followed her. A long cut, too wide to be inflicted by cat's claws, tore across his shoulder, and there were shallower scratches on his belly. "Are you alright?" Brightheart demanded, looking alarmed. "What attacked you?"

The dark tabby tom's flanks heaved as he drew himself up to his paws. "I'm going to be okay," he panted. "Where's…my…" His blue eyes, as bright as Jaypaw's, spun wildly, as if he were looking for something.

I flinched, looking around the clearing. Several other cats were sprawled out along the ShadowClan-ThunderClan border. Brightheart's paw touched my flank softly. "Lilypaw, go look at the others!" Brightheart ordered sharply. "But stay close."

I glanced at my mother. Her scarred face was contorted with fear, and I remembered, again, the long claw marks that stretched across her muzzle and her empty eye socket. Looking down at the dark-furred rogue, I wondered whether my mother was reliving that moment.

_Do I help? _I wondered, glancing around the clearing. _These are _loners_. They were on our territory without our permission! _A surge of fear and anger raced in my stomach, in spite of the danger these loners might be facing.

Sorreltail's dappled pelt brushes against my grey-striped one. "This isn't a time to be proud, Lilypaw," she snarled, as if she could read my thoughts. "Would you leave a ShadowClan cat to die?"

_Probably. They're all hairballs._ _But whatever you say._

I padded hesitantly towards a golden-brown she-kit that looked about six moons old. She looked fairly unharmed except for a deep scratch that put a v-shape in her delicate ear. Her bright blue eyes, widened and I noticed that they were bright and slightly clouded, as Jaypaw's were. Absentmindedly, I placed my paw over her flank. _Is she blind, like Jaypaw? _I wondered.

"Lilypaw!" A sharp, familiar voice sounded from behind me. I looked up into Jaypaw's bright eyes. "What're you doing here?" His fur was fluffed out as he crouched over the cat's tiny body, licking at the wound in her ear, which was oozing dark blood.

"I—well," I said, trying to find the words to describe how I'd gotten on the patrol in the first place. My limbs were shaking so hard at the scent of the loners' blood that I was surprised to still be standing.

"_There's no time_!" Jaypaw's mew was gruff, and his manner seemed to be more businesslike than usual. _This is Jaypaw as he's been training to be, _I thought, my body flooding with admiration. "Get me some poppyseed, will you?" He beckoned with his paw to several neat piles of herbs lined up near where Leafpool was standing, crouched over the body of another loner.

My head was still spinning as I glanced down at the body lying between us. It was a loner—the scent on her pelt was not ShadowClan's, or WindClan or RiverClan's, for that matter—and yet, a cat in danger was a cat to be saved. I shuddered as Jaypaw's tail brushed my flank. "What are you waiting for?" he demanded fiercely.

I sprinted towards the row of herbs, feeling a pull of foreboding. The herbs all looked the same in the clear moonlight, and their scent mingled. I looked down, selecting several dried flowers that looked like it could be poppy. Heart racing, I ran back to Jaypaw's side, delivering the jawful of herbs.

Jaypaw looked down at the flowers, scooping up a few into his jaws. "D-d'you need me for anything?" I asked uncertainly, watching as Jaypaw smoothed a poultice over the cat's scratched cheek.

"I'll be alright, Lilypaw," he murmured. "Go look for another cat to help." His jayfeather-blue eyes merged into one as his face pressed closer to mine; our muzzle brushed against each other. As I walked away, I felt a certain tingling warmth in my heart, mixed with uncertainty and fear as I joined Leafpool and Brightheart, who were looking down at a golden-brown queen. The queen looked a few moons younger than Squirrelflight or Leafpool, and her coat was the same color as the young cat's who Jaypaw and I had been tending to.

As I approached, Leafpool looked up at me, her amber eyes meeting mine. "Find something for this one, will you?" she asked. "Poppyseed…maybe some feverfew…" Her voice trailed off as she turned back to her patient.

My paws were sore soon, and my tongue was numb with the bitter taste of many herbs. Leafpool had gathered the loners together. There was the dark-furred tom, who was standing over the others, glaring challengingly at us, three kits: one pale-brown with a white chest, one honey-gold with the clouded blue eyes, and the last silver-blue with a single golden-amber paw, and the golden-brown queen Leafpool had been tending to, who was slumped, unconscious, with a sheathe of silvery cobwebs wrapped around most of her body.

Spiderleg stepped forwards until he was a mouse-length or so away from the dark tom. "Who are you?" he demanded. "Why are you on ThunderClan's territory?"

The tom looked up, his blue eyes gleaming and his fur fluffed out. The cut on his shoulder was still oozing blood, but he looked battle-fit. "I'm Evan," he announced, dipping his head in Leafpool and Brightheart's direction. "We had no idea that there were cats living in these parts."

Spiderleg drew back, looking gruff and disgusted. "No idea of the four Clans?" he snorted. "Where do you _come _from, at any rate?"

Evan drew back, wrapping his tail protectively around the three kits. "Don't talk to me like that!" he snarled, his tail lashing.

Sorreltail stepped forwards, smoothing her tail along Spiderleg's bristling spine. Spiderleg looked up, disgruntled, but Sorreltail spoke before he could say a word.

"You all have been attacked," she mewed, "And our Leader would like to hear your story, I'm sure. Spiderleg, let's take them back to camp."

Looking very annoyed, Spiderleg added, "As _prisoners_."

Sorreltail didn't respond.

The journey back to camp was in silence. Leafpool and Brightheart supported the body of the unconscious rogue between them, and Spiderleg padded at the front of the group, his spine bristling. I wondered, vaguely, if these cats represented the terrible stench we'd scented near ShadowClan, but their scent was just unfamiliar as opposed to offensive.

As we neared the entrance to camp, the guards—Squirrelflight and Whitewing—looked up. Whitewing turned to me, her green eyes glimmering with confusion. "What's going on?" she breathed. "Where'd all the torn-up cats come from?"

I paused, waiting for the others to go on. "We found them near ShadowClan's territory," I breathed back. "Sorreltail said Firestar'd want to hear their story."

Whitewing's whiskers twitched with surprise. "_I _want to hear their story," she whispered. "Come on, Lilypaw, I'm headed into camp." My sister nodded politely at Squirrelflight, escorting me towards the center of the clearing.

Firestar was standing atop the rock where he addresses our Clan, and Evan was standing in the center of the semicircle of ThunderClan cats. I sat at the edge of the crowd with Jaypaw, who was keeping watch over the three kits. He nodded briskly at me, motioning with his tail to where he wanted me to sit.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather under me for a Clan meeting!" Firestar called, but there was no need; ThunderClan was already assembled below him, staring with hostility at Evan. I turned around to peer into the Medicine Cat's den, Leafpool was crouched over the still-unconscious body of the honey-colored queen.

As Firestar opened the gathering, a furious crescendo of curious cries erupted from the Clan gathered below.

"Who _is _this cat?" Dustpelt called from his position wit the senior Warriors.

"The moonrise patrol brought back kits and a queen, too! What is the meaning of this?" Mousefur called, in her irritated, raspy voice.

Firestar looked down at us, his emerald eyes flickering with an unreadable emotion. "Spiderleg," he mewed, "Led the patrol. I'd like to hear how he explains this."

Spiderleg padded forwards, his ears lowered hesitantly. "Brightheart, Sorreltail, Lilypaw, and I were on the moonhigh patrol," he mewed, his voice ringing in the clearing. The first rays of dawn slanted onto his fur, illuminating his black fur into a reddish-brown. "We scented blood. There were five loners there," he added, "A queen, this tom, and their three kits."

"Where are the kits?" Ashfur snarled, and I saw his claws sink into the frosty earth as he glanced around, his spine bristling.

"The kits're with me," Jaypaw mewed softly. Ashfur craned his neck to look at the three kits sitting, wide-eyed with terror, and gave a grim snort of acknowledgement.

"The tom's name is Evan," Spiderleg added, "And he claims not to know of the existence of the four Clans." Evan and Spiderleg locked eyes, their lips curling back to reveal thorn-sharp teeth.

Firestar raised his head, his voice uncharacteristically sharp. "Evan," he meowed, his tail swishing back and forth, "Why have you brang your family to our forest?"

Evan's dark, blue-black head raised to stare unabashedly at Firestar. "My mate Camilia, and I are Travelers. You keep calling us loners." His voice had an unusual twang to it, unlike the cats I've been around. "We're not. We've traveled all 'round this land't some point're other. We came back from th' mountains." He flicked his shadow-colored tail towards the grey blur of the mountains in the distance.

Nearby, I could see Brook straighten up. I remembered that Brook was originally from some mountain Tribe, and she had been brought to the forest by Stormfur. "You were in the mountains?" she called.

Evan turned to face Brook. "I tell ya, we've been everywhere. Seen cats living in the sandy beaches, in caves in th' snow, behind waterfalls. We were just passing through before we got jumped by some big creature."

"ShadowClan?" Firestar asked, his eyes holding a bright glint of curiosity. "Cats, but with a different scent than ours?"

Evan shook his head. "Bigger'n a cat, I reckon. Plumy tails, prick ears. Amber eyes and sharp claws." He shook his head again, pausing to lick the bloody wound that sliced his shoulder. "Two 'r three of 'em, I reckon. Attacked all of us. Couldn' see quite wha' they were. Camilia tried savin' the kits." He looked over to where the three kits were sitting with Jaypaw, and his blue eyes locked with Jaypaw's. "Then y'all came runnin' for help. Brought your healer and her 'andsome apprentice."

Some eyes turned to Jaypaw, and he looked down, looking slightly unnerved. Firestar nodded at Evan to continue. "Took a fair while to get back here, I oughta say. The kits as frighten'd as anything. Camilia unconscious."

Firestar's eyes followed Leafpool, who was gliding out of her den. Compared to the relative hostility towards our newcomers, Leafpool looked noble and bright, her fur splashed with blood. She sat near to Brambleclaw and Greystripe, nodding at Firestar.

"Camilia's your mate, isn't she, Evan?" she called in her warm, breathless voice.

A glow of fear appeared in the Traveler's vivid blue eyes. "She alrigh'?" he called.

Leafpool turned to face the dark-furred tom. "She's alright," she mewed, "But in no state to travel. Firestar…?" her voice trailed off, and I realized that she was trying to allow Evan and his family to stay with ThunderClan while Camilia's wounds healed.

Firestar looked uncertainly down at the Traveler in front of him, then to the three kits sitting at Jaypaw's plumy paws. "Leafpool, how long will it take for Camilia's wounds to heal?" he mewed. His voice held a certain authority, and I knew what his fear was—ThunderClan always appeared to take in non-Clanborn cats. My gaze flicked from Firestar, who himself was a kittypet; Millie, a kittypet that Greystripe had taken as a mate; Daisy, the cream-furred queen that brought with her Berrynose, Hazelpaw, and Mousepaw; my own father, Cloudtail, who had been given to his uncle as a gift to ThunderClan in one of its greatest times of need. _Will Firestar let them stay? _I wondered.

"About a moon." Leafpool locked eyes with her father, and nodded. "Perhaps longer, but she looks strong."

Firestar's nodded, with a note of finality in his words. "Then they may stay for that long." He nodded to Evan. "Your kits will sleep in the nursery, and you will sleep with the Warriors. Lilypaw, will you show them around?" He nodded at me, green eyes meeting blue.

"I will, Firestar," I promised, rising to my paws. Jaypaw's glance locked into mine, and he flicked his tail at the three kits sitting at his paws.

"Then you all may go." Firestar nodded in dismissal, and the Clan meeting began to dissolve. Apprehension prickled my fur as I realized that cats were staring about, casting dark looks at Evan and his kits. Nearby, Mousefur whispered to Ferncloud, "I'm not so sure about that Traveler and his family. They seem a bit dodgy, telling tales of a large creature in our forest…"

I strained to listen to the rest of the two she-cat's conversation, but a tail brushed my hindleg. I looked up to see Evan towering over me, his blue eyes glinting. "You're the cat showin' us where to stay?" he asked.

I flinched, glancing from Evan to his kits. "I—I am," I stammered. "You sleep…over there." I nodded to the sheltered bramble bush where the Warriors slept. "I'm not sure what Firestar'll have you do most of the day." _You're all prisoners, _I added, though I didn't say this out loud. "Erm…well, it's almost sunrise now."

Evan's head tilted in confusion, and I whisked my tail rapidly from side to side as I explained. "You know…when it gets all bright. It happens every day after it gets dark"—

Evan's gruff mew cut me off midsentence. "I'm not daft, li'l one," he growled. "I know what a mornin' is. But don' we get any time ter sleep?"

I sighed, glancing around for a savior. I noticed Brambleclaw approaching us, his dark tabby fur proudly groomed and his amber eyes glinting majestically. The proud way in which he carried his body reminded me of another, a cat who I had stumbled upon in my dreams…

Tigerstar. I tried to shake away the feeling.

"Evan, you and your kits are coming with me," the tabby-pelted deputy ordered. "Lilypaw, Thornclaw wants me to tell you that you've got the day off training." He nodded briskly at me, and I vanished.

No sooner had I left the Travelers with Brambleclaw before Jaypaw found me, pressing his muzzle against my cheek. "C'mon over here, Lilypaw," he breathed, signaling with his tail to a secluded patch of heather just outside the camp.

I rolled over, looking up at the ruby-streaked sky. A Twoleg bird flashed from high above, creating a long line of white steamcloud. "Big day," I yawned, raising my neck to lick the tip of my tail.

Jaypaw's tail flicked. "Yes, it was," he agreed. "But Evan's story got me thinking about something."

I sighed. "What? Mousefur already told me she didn't trust them—not you as well?" Jaypaw, having a trace of kittypet blood in his veins, couldn't possibly feel wary of the travelers because they weren't Clan-born. _Or could he?_

"No, Lilypaw—what got me thinking was the idea of Evan's, of the animal that nearly ripped him and his family apart. Don't you think—_Stronger than a dog, smarter than a cat…?_"

His voice was so pointed that it reminded me of Brambleclaw's sharp, bossy mew. My mind was racing. _Brambleclaw…Tigerstar…the dream…Tigerstar's warning of danger…stronger than a dog, smarter than a cat!_

My head snapped up in alarm. "Y-you don't reckon…the animal Evan spoke of…was the danger our forest is facing? They seemed to have…sharp claws…"

Jaypaw's eyes were sparkling with fear. "No, that's not what I'm thinking," he mewed at last. "It's what I _know_, and it's what I'm afraid of."


End file.
